Author notes: I forgot to disclaim on the first chapter, naughty me. However, I doubt anyone reading this was going to be under any delusions that I own the right to any of the characters or the setting. Just in case you were, I don't! Ianto as promised. Thank you for reading. And thank you for all the lovely reviews on chapter 1. This is an action chapter and I couldn't really get it to flow but bear with me because the next chapter will be talk again, which will hopefully flow better.
Ianto watched as Owen, Gwen and Tosh crossed the Plass arm in arm, no doubt heading for the local Pub for an after-work drink before heading home for the night. Noting that Jack wasn't with them, he crossed his fingers and hoped that the boss would follow his normal routine of finding a high building to stand on for a couple of hours after everyone else had left the hub.
He was in luck; it was barely minutes before Jack drove off in the SUV. Ianto watched it out of sight and then quickly entered the tourism office. The invisible lift was more convenient to use but the CCTV cameras monitoring that area were harder to tamper with. Months spent secretly caring for Lisa had honed his skills at manipulating the cameras.
The huge cog rolled back with its usual blaring sirens and Ianto stepped into the Hub. If Jack thought that he could keep him away from this place for a month, he could think again. The Hub was his life and he couldn't live without it, not even now that Lisa was gone.
The pain rolled through him again but Ianto knew that it wasn't because Lisa was gone. It was because the slight connection he had had with his team was gone. Out of necessity, he had made himself almost unnoticeable, but they had all relied on him nonetheless; a reliance that spoke of an implicit, if unconscious, trust. None of them would trust him anymore and he had really liked being trusted. He needed to be trusted. Especially by Jack. Jack, who had been ready to shoot him. Ianto wished he had. Being dead would be preferable to this.
Ianto knew that he would never be able to cope with working with Jack if the older man didn't trust him. There would be no innuendo, no flirting, and it would be unbearable. But life was nothing without this job. This job was everything. Jack was everything.
His decision was made. This was his last trip to the Hub, his last trip anywhere. He would say goodbye to Myfanwy, even to the few resident weevils, then everything would end once and for all. How he wished he could say goodbye to the team too, but he knew that was impossible.
Ianto slipped down to the cells to check on the weevils, not bothering to avoid the cameras anymore. So what if the team found out tomorrow that he'd been in? By then it would be too late for them to do anything about it. You can't discipline a dead man.
Jack stepped wearily back onto the perception filter paving slab and used his wrist strap to set the lift in motion. Ianto wasn't home, nor was he at any of his normal haunts; not that Ianto seemed to have many haunts. As Owen had predicted, the young Welshman seemed to spend most of his waking hours at the hub. Jack didn't often worry about his team outside of the workplace but he was worried now.
As he descended into the Hub, the smell of Myfanwy's barbecue sauce rose to meet him. He'd have to get out the industrial strength lily air freshener that Gwen had brought in. The smell of the sauce only served to remind the entire team of what had happened with Lisa and none of them could cope with it. If it were not for the fact that Myfanwy wouldn't eat if they didn't use it, it would have been chucked with the rubbish.
The thought that the smell was far too strong to be leftover scent from Myfanwy's last meal was just begin to curl around the edges of Jack's realisation when he saw the lone figure standing exactly where the Cyberwoman (he refused to think of her as Lisa) had been when he had covered her with the sticky sauce. Hearing Myfanwy squawk out her hunting scream, Jack looked up to see her dive bombing from the top of the Hub.
The horrific realisation that the lone figure was Ianto, covered in barbecue sauce, had Jack jumping off the slab before it reached the bottom. He barely registered the pain as the landing jarred every bone in his body.
"Ianto! No!" He was running as soon as his feet touched the ground, reaching out, knowing he wouldn't get there in time.
The pteranodon swooped then swung clear, heading back to the top of the Hub, giving Jack time to tackle Ianto. The younger man was surprisingly strong and Jack had barely moved him before Myfanwy was back for another pass. Again she swerved off at the last moment, soaring back to the top of the Hub.
"Ianto, stop fighting me." Jack huffed, wishing he had a bit more of a height advantage to utilise as he half wrestled Ianto back. As Myfanwy came back for a third time, Jack tore Ianto's jacket off and launched it towards the pteranodon, who diverted to attack the clothing. With strength born of desperation, Jack heaved Ianto into a fireman's lift and sprinted, as much as was possible under the additional weight, to his personal quarters.
Getting down the ladder to his bunker with six foot of toned and resistant man over his shoulder was not the easiest task Jack had ever attempted but he emerged from the battle triumphant and expertly manoeuvred them both into the small ensuite.
"In you go." He stepped into the shower and turned the hot water on, placing Ianto back on his feet.
The hot water seemed to have a sobering effect on Ianto and he stopped fighting back. He stood still, rigid, his eyes strangely vacant. Despite the steaming temperature of the water, the young man started to shiver violently.
Jack had often imagined sharing a shower with his handsome, young employee but never in all his dreams had they both been fully dressed. Nor had Ianto been quite so passive, he mused as he grabbed the shampoo and started to wash the sticky sauce from Ianto's hair.
"Sorry, Ianto, I don't think this suit will ever be the same again." It occurred to Jack that, if he were not quite so worried about Ianto, he would probably be extremely amused that the younger man was wearing a suit on his day off. "Coming to think of it, neither will my clothes. I'll have you know this was my favourite shirt."
He paused for a minute to allow Ianto the opportunity for a sarcastic comment, since most of his shirts were exactly the same. When none was forthcoming, he sighed and pulled Ianto close, gently urging the young man's head onto his own shoulder.
"Oh Ianto, what am I going to do with you?"